Charleston, S.C. -
Western Carolina freshman J.T. Poston improved upon his opening round by 10 strokes in Monday's second round as the Catamounts remained in 10th-place overall in the team standings at the 2012 Southern Conference Men's Golf Championship being held a the par-72, 7,446-yard Ralston Creek Course on Daniel Island.

Paced by individual tournament leader Stephen Jaeger (-6, 138) Chattanooga (580) carded a two-under par 286 as a team on Monday to move from fourth to first place on the leader board after the second round, holding a nine-stroke advantage over second-place Samford (589).

Again paired with golfers from UNCG, Western Carolina will open its final round on the back nine starting at 9:20 am through 10:00 am. All 55 golfers will be on the course by 10:30 am on Tuesday.

Poston bookended his second 18 holes with birdies on the par-4 first and par-5 No., 18. The Hickory, N.C., native moved from a tie for 49th into the top 25 amidst a four-way tie for 22nd place overall. He additionally ranks third in the tournament with 27 pars over the first two days of competition.

Poston's two-under 70 is the lowest round for a Catamount golfer at the conference championship event since 2010 when Tanner Briele also carded 70 in the opening round. He scored birdie on one hole he bogeyed during his opening round, while also erasing Sunday's triple and double bogey holes with pars on Monday.

Sophomore Greg Bunner stands tied with Poston after shooting 76 on Monday for a 36-hole score of 150, slipping four spots in the standings to 22nd. The Gastonia, N.C., native posted 12 pars on his second round, making the turn at three-over with a trio of bogies including two between the eighth and ninth holes. Bunner dropped to four-over after a bogey on the par-5 11th and again on the par-4 14th, but carded birdie on the par-4 13th.

WCU's first-round leader, junior Steven Smith (152), slipped into a tie for 30th after shooting 79 on his second go round. Smith made the turn at five-over after three bogies and one double among his opening nine holes, but strung together nine-consecutive pars before bogies on the 17th and 18th relegated him to seven-over for the day.

Rounding out WCU's scoring side were junior Trey White (162) and sophomore Jack Walsh (165) in 53rd and 54th, respectively. White made the turn at three-over on the afternoon, but struggled through three double-bogies and a pair of bogies on the back. Walsh played both nines at six-over par.

On a day when the winds picked up and the scores rose, the Mocs were easily the most consistent team with 71s (-1) from Chris Robb and Benni Weilguni and 72s (E) from Jaeger and Liam Johnston. The Mocs' 286 was the best team round on the day by 10 strokes.

Jaeger, the 16th ranked golfer in the country according to Golfstat, notched back-to-back birdies on holes five and six along with a birdie on the final hole to even out a trio of bogies. At six-under par, the senior is one of just two golfers in the field in the red through 36 holes.

One of Jaeger's playing partners on Monday, Furman senior Austin Reeves, shot 70 (-2) to sit alone in second place, four strokes from the top. Reeves, the 2010 SoCon champion, birdied three different par 4s in the round and, like Jaeger, birdied the par-5 18th.

Samford improved one spot on the day, moving up from third to second, nine shots behind Chattanooga. The Bulldogs are +13 through 36 holes. First round leader Georgia Southern dropped two spots to third place after shooting 301 (+13) on the day but will remain in the final pairing Tuesday with Chattanooga and Samford.

College of Charleston (+17) rose one spot to fourth, followed by Furman (+20), Wofford (+21) and Appalachian State (+26) in the fifth through seventh spots, respectively. Davidson (+27), Elon (+30), Western Carolina (+38) and UNCG (+43) complete the standings.

The final round of the championship will begin Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. ET with golfers teeing off from both hole 1 and 10. Results will be updated every three holes at www.golfstatresults.com.